


Deadly Silence

by PlaguedParadox



Series: The Silent Courier [1]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Muteness, Slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 04:55:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14229714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlaguedParadox/pseuds/PlaguedParadox
Summary: Arcade gets worried about the courier after they've been gone for two weeks and then they reflect on how they met.





	Deadly Silence

The sun beat down on the Mojave, like the Legion that claimed Arizona did to their slaves, causing sweat to collect on the brows on all of those unfortunate enough to be caught outside during the harsh summer day. The heat was enough to make countless people sick or pass out as nature tried to claim the lives of those who defied death of the post-war world by using vaults and luck alone to survive. Luck was practically the name of the game for those living in the desert. Luck was the reason that the casinos of old were prosperous despite the gamblers constant fails. Luck was the reason why so many people miraculously had one last stimpak or one last bullet in their gun during a fight. 

Luck was the reason they found each other. 

Freeside was busy as always with addicts, dealers and thugs roaming the streets with the Kings trying to keep the peace, despite their conflict with the local soldiers, and the Followers of the Apocalypse trying to keep everyone healthy and free of addiction. Children continued to run around chasing all the critters and pests they could find so that the meat could be cooked and sold to the starving souls of the locals and squatters from the New California Republic. Nothing ever seemed to change in the slums even with the Followers hard work. 

There was comfort and melancholy in the fact that nothing ever changed, for Arcade that was. He rather enjoyed being able to slip back into his old life with the Followers as if nothing ever happened but the fact that no one ever asked him what happened to him as if no one noticed his disappearance was rather disheartening, to say the least. The doctor sighed and straightened his lab coat once again, his nerves beginning to collect as he thought back on to the reason why he was gone. He felt rather paranoid checking over his shoulder to see if the mess of almost pure red hair was behind him as it was more of a sign of danger than a crazed Mister Gutsy but he felt relief when there was no one there but patients and fellow doctors that were typical to the Old Mormon Fort. 

Arcade grumbled small ‘hello’s to those he walked passed as he slipped out of the large wooden doors and towards one of the main gates which lead into the Mojave wasteland only stopping once he reached a few metres into the wastes, looking around him as if he was looking for something, or someone specific. ‘They’ve been gone a while.’ The doctor thought to himself as he lifted up the clipboard he brought with him and dragged a pencil across the paper clipped to it to make another mark on a tally he believed to be far too long not that he would admit that he was worrying, he knew the famed Courier Six could handle themselves out in the wild especially with their eyebot following closely behind. 

But it was moments like this, him standing out on the fringes of the wasteland with no courier in his sights, that made him wish that he wasn’t so paranoid or terrified about what had happened to him. If he wasn’t, he could have run off into the wasteland to look for his beloved companion. Arcade’s hand fell subconsciously on his stomach, just above the mark he had put into his own flesh. His eyes welled up as he began to imagine what would have happened if his friend didn’t reach him in time despite him wanting to die in those moments. Arcade screwed his eyes shut to fight the tears threatening to fall down his face. 

A calloused hand brushing his tears away made him jump back in shock as his eyes flew open and stared at who dared to sneak up on him. It was a woman barely reaching 5’3 and younger than him, her eyes were full of life and looked practically purple in the Mojave sun while her hair was actually purple, or rather a light lilac. The smile that was stretched across her lips was infectious and brought a smile out on the man’s own lips just as it had done plenty of times before. His courier was back. 

The two walked through Freeside, silent as they went, not like Arcade would have expected anything different and he didn’t mind the comforting silence that always followed his friend’s presence, it made him feel at home. The courier, or Pandora as Arcade had come to call her, was silent in almost all meaning of the word being that she was very light-footed and mute, it was the reason she was able to sneak up on him back at the gate. The doctor trusted this woman with his life, being that she saved his life, despite not knowing very much about her. 

Pandora was an orphan who was born in the New California Republic but grew up in the Capital Wasteland as her parents used to travel a lot before they were killed which lead her to join a group that she proceeded to run away from and refused to mention. Arcade connected with her story as he came from a group that he really didn’t want to have connections to which lead him to wonder if she was from the same group and in a rather sick way he hoped she did so they would have something to vent about rather than the fact that she ended up stumbling into a cazador nesting spot for what seemed to be the millionth time. She was lucky in casinos and fights but not when it came to wasteland abominations because if it wasn’t cazadors giving her a hard time then the deathclaws certainly would. 

They stopped once they reached the walls of the Old Mormon Fort and sat down with their backs against the centuries-old brick that still stood proud, the shade being perfect for the small woman as she pulled out some purified water from her oversized bag and handed a bottle to her friend who was trying to keep his distance from her ever faithful eyebot companion. She never understood why he hated the thing so much as it was rather friendly, a trait that seemed to be carried across the E models as the one in the Divide was just as friendly. The courier watched as Arcade happily took the bottle from her and sat down in the shade, enjoying the coolness that it brought. 

The pair enjoyed being back in each other’s company, both being rather panicked when separated but the courier felt it was necessary as she had just finished taking back Nelson with Boone and didn’t want Arcade to see more Legionaries. Pandora was trying her best to balance her duty to help the NCR and her friendship to the Follower but it was proven to be more difficult now that she was being attacked by assassins almost every day when she explored the wasteland she now called home. The small woman wanted nothing more than to stay at Freeside with her best friend so she could protect him from the harsh world but Lady Luck was hardly on her side when she needed it most. 

“So, what happened to make you take so long? You’re usually back in a day or so, it’s been almost two weeks.” Arcade asked with his worry evident, placing his bottle down by his feet as he leaned his back against the wall, crossing his arms shortly afterwards. Pandora’s head fell down slightly to show that she was rather upset about the fact it took her so long before she signed that she had run into some complications, hesitating slightly as she did. “Complications? With Boone spotting for you?” Pandora nodded in response as she remembered what happened.

Boone had just finished checking the area surrounding Nelson for any Legionaries that could possibly attack them and the NCR soldiers they had released from the crosses that the Legion was infamous for. Pandora shared Boone’s burning hatred for Caesar’s Legion so pairing up with the sniper was easy, what wasn’t easy was the sheer number of soldiers they had to fight despite their leader being six feet under. They had taken out the soldiers within a few hours so they were taking their time checking the perimeter as they had a lot of extra time to work with. Pandora chose to take back Nelson after talking to her current companion about the area but she was sure that the men at Camp Forlorn Hope would want to hear that they could take the area back over. 

“Area’s clear, we good to go?” Boone’s voice broke the Courier's focus, pulling her attention away from what she was initially looking at. Just as she was about to answer a bullet flew over her head, making her instincts kick in. She quickly unholstered her gauss rifle and dropped to the floor before taking aim at the assassins that made their way closer. The sound of the coil gun firing and hitting its target was a satisfying sound to the mute woman as she and her companion took down their enemies from a distance before their ranged weapons became ineffective, she really didn’t want to resort to the riot shotgun that was attached to her leg as she was not as trained in close quarters combat as she would have liked. 

The courier quickly grew aggravated with how long it was to take down the Legionaries as they ducked out of the way. ‘Looks like they’re learning.’ Pandora thought to herself as she activated a stealth boy and proceeded to leave the perch that she was previously on and unsheathing her combat knife as she sneaked her way closer to the Legionaries. Adrenaline filled her system as she grabbed an assassin from behind, covering their mouth and slitting their neck before placing them down gently before moving on and doing the same thing to another soldier, hardly caring that her hand and knife were getting coated in more and more blood. She didn't have time to care.

The assassination approach meant the actual assassins were taken down rather quickly but Pandora, upon sensing she was being watched, had a feeling she’d be more assassins soon enough. 

A silent sigh left the courier as she recalled the plethora of times she was attacked by Legion assassins just on her way to Novac to drop Boone off let alone the amount she came across just trying to get to Freeside. The woman was glad that her stealth suit hid almost all of the wounds that she had received from her trek. She signed to Arcade that the reason it had taken her so long was that she had to make a ton of detours but left out the fact that it was because she was trying to lose the assassins tailing her. Her fingers lightly trailed across the scar adorning her neck after she finished explaining, accidentally indicating to the Follower as to why she had to make the detours. 

Soon the sun began to dip below the horizon which cooled the summer air which would soon into an unforgiving chill that was typical for the nights of the Mojave. The due moved closer together, Arcade’s lab coat placed along their shoulders to keep the chill off as their conversation continued. More weight against his shoulder alerted the doctor to his friend’s newly unconscious state. A sigh left his lips as he quickly placed his coat back on before slinging the courier’s bag over his shoulder and picking his friend up. Arcade quickly made his way to the Atomic Wrangler, knowing that the small woman in his arms had a permanent room there after doing some work for the Garrett siblings that she didn’t really like talking about but she never really got any further than mentioning a robot being involved. 

Morning soon came around and Arcade found himself waking up in the large bed by himself, his companion was on the other side of the room trying to repair her gauss rifle that had seen too much use in the two weeks she was gone. Sometimes Arcade felt like a jilted lover with how often his once constant companion now left him alone while she ran off with her eyebot and some other friends they had made during their travels, he knew it was more than silly that he felt that way as they were just friends and he wasn’t even attracted to the woman but he couldn’t help but feel jealous when she gave others so much of her precious attention. 

Upon noticing her friend’s conscious state, she reached into her bag and pulled out some food and tossed it over to him so he could have breakfast, remembering how he’d always tell her off for not eating often enough. The doctor muttered a quick thank you before eating, his gaze drifting over to the courier every now and again. Despite often feeling jilted and jealous nowadays he was grateful for meeting the woman especially considering how they met.

The sun was a lot harsher in the Mojave than how to it felt in the Capital was something that the silent slave contemplated a lot as her pale skin reddened in the burning heat as she was forced to work, just like the slaves around her. She had been here for a good few months when she saw what seemed to be a courier with almost laser red hair waltz his way in, his overly confident attitude souring her mood as she watched him enter the tent that stood disgustingly proudly at the highest point of the Fort. It was Caesar’s home, and one she was waiting to just sneak in so she could rip the man to shreds. 

A silent sigh left her, her voice being lost almost a week after she was sold to the Legion by raiders which stole her from her home and friends in the Capital. The sun was becoming far too much for the poor woman as she sneaked her way into an empty tent to escape the heat. 

It was almost a week later when she saw the red-headed courier enter the Fort again, this time with a blonde man with a lab coat in tow. The man in the lab coat really didn’t want to be there and even begged the courier to reconsider going near the tent but it was too late to change his mind and the slave knew exactly what the courier was doing, selling the blonde man to the Legion. Her stomach dropped at the thought of the man in the lab coat being treated like she had been, she was tough and was used to being beaten senseless as it had once been training for her but she doubted that the blonde man would be able to handle such abuse. 

She was working by the gate when the red-headed courier was making his leave, the slave froze when she noticed his gaze fall on her. She recognised him instantly now that they were close. The courier’s name was Cameron, but he shortened it down to Cam, and he was her cousin who she believed died back in the Capital when they were teens. Cam’s face crinkled into a disgusting smirk once he noticed his cousin working hard with a slave collar strapped tightly around her neck. 

It was a good few months after that before she found the courage in the dead of night to steal a blade from a sleeping Legionary and tear her collar off, accidentally agitating the wound on her neck from the material constantly rubbing against her skin. She made her way to the large tent that held the leader of the army of slavers that surrounded her. She crept silently over to the sleeping man who used the ancient emperor’s name and without a second thought, slit his neck and watched the blood pour out onto the white sheets beneath him. The slave quickly went around the Fort slicing up any Legionary she found, except those that were training and instead instructed them the best she could to run and never return. When she reached her fellow slaves she was quick to free them and send them running for NCR territory but the fact she couldn’t see the blonde man her cousin brought in worried her. She scoured the Fort for the man before stumbling the man bleeding out with a scalpel next to him and a large gash in his stomach. 

That's when what a dear friend back at the Capital had taught her came rushing back to her before she set off rushing around and grabbing the necessary equipment before placing the man’s organs back into him and sewing up what was needed. The man, who she later came to find out was named Arcade, was barely conscious as she put him back together. Arcade would never admit it but he swore he saw her as an angel as she worked tirelessly to save him. 

Once Arcade was fully stitched up and at least a tad bit more conscious, the slave helped him walk out of the Fort, trying to get him to ignore the countless dead bodies that now littered its floor so he could focus on moving his feet. It was only when the pair reached Cottonwood Cove and the slave stole a gun and began to slaughter the Legionaries there that Arcade realised just who had killed all the Legionaries at the Fort. Needless to say, he was both terrified and impressed. 

Soon the doctor would come to be the slave’s almost permanent companion and watched her change from being a simple slave to becoming the new Courier Six as she tried to heal all the damage her cousin had done. Arcade couldn’t have been more proud when she spent so long helping out with Freeside and eventually becoming a Follower even if most of what else she did was to benefit the NCR. He stood cautiously by her side when she fixed the eyebot that soon became her personal guard dog. Arcade adored the woman he had come to call Pandora. The silent but ever deadly courier.   
  



End file.
